on and off
by JHernade84
Summary: Konoha is in immediate danger, and while balancing work and play, Iruka must confront his own feelings about a certain tokubetsu jounin. GenxIru, IruxGen
1. a hair tie and a kiss

The dark was closing in on him. Wind whipped around him and then suddenly dropped away. The boy's writhing was the only movement. He was pinned beneath a much stronger man. There wasn't much hope, but the boy still tried to get away. Suddenly, with a scream of pure pain, the boy went totally still. A blade danced across his back, cutting him deeply from waist to opposite shoulder. And then the dark really did come.

Iruka woke up with a start, sweat had beaded on his face and had soaked though his shirt. The young teacher lifted a hand to his face and wiped away the tears. He sat up in bed and kicked his sheet off, pulling the shirt off as he did so. "Damn dream," he swore, uncharacteristically. "Damn sheets too." Iruka's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he was soon able to look around his room, reminding himself that dreams didn't happen in real life. The scar, aching on his back, was telling a different story though.

A sudden banging from the front of his apartment, made Iruka jump and the roll his eyes. "Nande?" Iruka muttered as he pulled himself out of bed and stumbled to the door. Of course Tsunade-sama would call him from his bed just now. It was almost as if she could tell it was the worst timing.

Iruka cracked the door open to see his team mates standing there in the hall. Izumo was wearing his uniform, having just come from Hokage tower, but Kotetsu looked similar to Iruka in dress, boxers, though Kotetsu had a t-shirt on too.

Iruka groaned, "Now?" he asked, and with a nod from Izumo, he rushed back to the bedroom. Iruka pulled on a pair of jeans, the night was chilly, so he also donned a zip-up hoodie. He grabbed an extra jacket and ran back to the door, where he tossed the jacket at his shivering team mate.

The three young men silently slipped away from the apartment building and began the quick run to Hokage-Tower, staying in the shadows. As Iruka stepped into a rocky patch in the road, he mentally scolded himself for forgetting shoes.

"Ne, what is it this time?" Iruka heard Kotetsu question Izumo, but the younger chuunin shushed him effectively.

Hokage tower was lit up on the inside and as Iruka stepped into the Hokage's office, he blinked in the first light he'd seen since he'd gone to bed, four hours earlier. Suddenly, the heat from the jog caught up with him and he envied Kotetsu's state of undress. Iruka unzipped the jacket and pushed the sleeves up his arms just a bit. Then, pushing his hair out of his eyes, he looked around.

The Hokage's chambers were decked out in their usual curtains that hung on the walls and surrounded the shelves that were stuffed full of scrolls. Shizune had obviously been too busy to organize them recently, or the desk, which had papers, scrolls and several bottles of sake strewn across it. The red rug that sort of matched the wall hangings was worn under Iruka's bare feet, the usual entrance to the Hokage's office.

Standing in front of the bookshelves were several ninja, all of which Iruka could identify. Closest to Iruka stood several ninja from his class at the Academy, Raidou, Genma, and Anko. Closest to the Hokage stood several more well-known ninja. Maito Gai stood stoically next to Tsunade-sama's desk, next to him was the Copy-nin, Hatake Kakashi. Standing just to the Hokage's left was Torture and Investigation Specialist, Morino Ibiki, who was murmuring something in a low tone.

Suddenly, Iruka's assessment of the grim room was interrupted by the busty blonde behind the desk as she cleared her throat. " _Ahem!_ " She began, "Now that you are all here, we have some things to discuss." Tsunade looked around at the room and gave a contented nod of her head.

"One, Hatake put the book up and Genma keep your senbon out of Anko's face!" Tsunade shook her head and gave a sigh that seemed to say 'this room is filled with children and not superb ninjas'. "Now, secondly I'd like to address all of the jounin and ex-ANBU." Tsunade motioned for Shizune, her assistant, who immediately rushed to her side and dumped a lot of scrolls on the already cluttered desk.

Quickly, Tsunade unfurled three scrolls, a map, a diagram, and what looked like a list of names. "The Akatsuki has been on the rise and have recently decided to take out several villages in Mist. Leaf has two villages that look to be the next targets and then it's us." Tsunade looked around at the room and let the news sink in. Nobody said a word.

"So, I'm thinking we need to call up some ANBU from Fire, put some extras on patrol, and work on keeping people calm." Tsunade informed the room with a slight smile on her face that seemed as if she'd forgotten to be worried for anything. "So now I need _you three_ , to explain your last mission for us," the Hokage turned the attention of the room to Iruka and his team mates, who with the exception of Izumo were yawning.

"You tell Izu-chan," Iruka managed to mumble before a huge yawn took over his voice.

"I'm too..." Iruka's yawning was catching and causing Kotetsu to be unable to finish his sentence. "...tired." he muttered before he yawned again.

Izumo shook his head at his team mates and looked back at the Hokage. "Well, we were assigned an easier B-rank, a transport mission. We had to get a lord's son across the border of Wind, but pretty soon the mission turned A-rank when we stumbled across a few Akatsuki." Izumo paused here for his own yawn and Iruka took over.

"We thought we might be able to go on as if oblivious, to see if we'd make it but a lookout saw us." Iruka took a breath and continued, "It only to a few shuriken to assure safe passage, luckily we'd only met up with a few lost members, however these are their charts," Iruka motioned to the Hokage's desk. "And we are on them," he said with a final tone that set the room abuzz with nervous chatter and the beginnings of strategies.

The teacher voice Iruka had adopted while explaining, disappeared as he turned to his team member. "Ko'," he said softly as he buried his face in his friend's shoulder. "You're making me..." a yawn interrupted him, "...yawn," he said with a soft moan.

Kotetsu chuckled softly and rubbed his cheek against Iruka's loose, soft hair. "I was gonna say the..." his voice was cut off by another yawn, "...same thing."

Genma's voice interrupted, his tone rough from sleep. "When you two are done making out, we have work to get to." Iruka looked up from Kotetsu's shoulder and grinned at the special jounin.

"Ne, I wouldn't make out with Ko' here, he bites..." a yawn stopped Iruka momentarily. "...so I swore off him for a while." Kotetsu nibbled on Iruka's ear just to prove the point, making Iruka blush lightly and nuzzle his head back into his friend's shoulder.

Genma gave a groan and swatted Iruka, "Don't talk like that where I can't do anything to you, Sensei." Genma's husky tone made Iruka's chest tighten in a gasp and he hid his face as it flushed. Though it wasn't the first time Genma had teased him, by far, Iruka still managed to feel like a violated maiden every time his friend and co-worker opened his mouth. Especially when Iruka remembered how things had gone just before the last time Genma's voice had sounded sleepy to him.

Izumo walked up to the three friends, coming back from talking to the Hokage. "Tsunade-sama wants us all at the mission room sorting this stuff out." She looked over his teammates who were still in their hastily dawned clothing. "She said you don't need to change for today, she just needs us feeling sharp."

Kotetsu's face split into a smile. "I always wanted to go to work in only my underwear," Kotetsu said, latching on to Izumo as Iruka dragged himself away from Kotetsu's body heat to search for a hair tie.

Iruka snuck up next to Anko and took her by the arm, effectively breaking her eye contact with Kakashi, who fell silent as the tired teacher politely interrupted. "Nande, Iruka-chan?" Anko asked him as he grabbed her arm.

"Anko-nee, I need a hair tie," he mumbled, blushing slightly under the Copy-nin's intense stare.

Anko, Iruka's long time sort of big sister, turned to the young man and ruffled his hair, "Nande? It looks so good like this! Right, Kakashi?"

Anko turned to the silver-haired genius and grinned at him. "Yeah," he agreed as he saw the glint in Anko's eye. It was the same glint he'd seen the last time she beat him up. It showed up in Ibiki's eyes sometimes too, like just before he entered the interrogation room. With that glint directed at him, Kakashi would agree to practically anything, especially when it was just vocalizing something he already thought. "It looks so good," Kakashi said, repeating Anko word for word.

Iruka's pinks flushed again and Kakashi assumed he was pleased with the compliment, though he had to be pretty dense not to see it wasn't original, though it was meant whole-heartedly. But then he watched as the teacher bopped Anko over the head, lightly swatting at her purple hair.

"Anko-nee, leave him out of this, I just need a hair tie." Iruka widened his eyes on purpose so that Anko wouldn't be able to refuse him and pouted a lip out. "Please, nee-chan," he pleaded, tugging gently on her arm. He heard Kakashi draw in a deep breath behind him and guessed that the man was trying not to laugh at how Anko was giving in so easily. But Iruka tried not to pay attention to the other man.

Anko patted the pockets in her vest and frowned in confusion. "I haven't got one, 'Ruka-chan," Anko patted her vest again and looked back up, her brow furrowing in concentration. "I bet that Ibiki has something you could use, 'Ruka, you know how he favors you. Oh, or Genma he still owes you one right? From when you did that thing..." Anko tugged on one of Iruka's locks of hair making the young man stick his tongue out and pull away.

"Nande? Genma? He gave me a back-rub for that. Though maybe I could use... No, you know he'll just use this as a debt to get me to do..." Iruka trailed off and shivered remembering the last debt he'd owed the senbon sucker. Then, he felt his cheeks flush and Iruka shook his head. "No, I'll stay away from him while it's dark out. Maybe in the morning light," Iruka began to mutter when he remembered that he wasn't alone.

"Ano, thanks anyways, Anko-nee," Iruka smiled sweetly at his sister-figure and then gave a little nod to the more famous man standing across from him. "See ya'," Iruka chirped and turned to go find the Torture and Investigation Specialist.

The large and muscled man was giving Raidou instructions when Iruka walked up and he left off his previous conversation right away. "Iruka-sensei, did you need something?" Ibiki growled in a friendly and caring manner.

Iruka flushed and nodded, a hand going up to his nose to rub his scar absent-mindedly. "I've not got a tie for my hair and Anko told me to ask-" Iruka cut himself off as Ibiki put his hand out in shinobi-sign for silence.

"Say no more," Ibiki said and dug around in one of his vest pockets. He pulled out a pink hair tie with a plastic sparkly flower attached and handed it to the blushing teacher. "It's the only one I've got," the older man said with a shrug.

Iruka nodded with a smile, "Of course, and thank you, 'biki-san," Iruka yawned mid-sentence. "I better get to work, ne?" Iruka covered another yawn and scratched absently at his tan, hard stomach and lifted his arms in a stretch.

Suddenly, he felt two hands grab at a wrist and gave a slight tug. "Iruka-sensei," The person attached to the hands murmured into Iruka's ear. Iruka turned slightly and caught sight of the honey colored hair that most definitely belonged to Genma.

"Genma," Iruka said, tugging slightly out of his hold. He gave a head bob of apology to the two men he'd just been speaking with and let Genma tug him off. "Is it too much to ask for one conversation where you don't come up or interrupt?" Iruka asked the older jounin teasingly.

Genma shrugged as he led Iruka out of the Hokage's office and into the hallway under the stairs by the Mission Room door. "I can only take so much before-" Genma began, but was cut off by Iruka's lips pressing to his own and a tongue that cut off his ability to speak. Instead, Genma settled on a needy moan as he pressed the chunnin-sensei into the wall and farther into the shadows. "'Ruka," he said, trying to catch his breath.

Iruka squirmed as Genma panted his name. The way he was pinned to the wall gave his older, on and off lover more control, but Iruka knew he could still be in charge. He drew his lips back to nibble on Genma's neck and then let the suction leave a mark. Genma moaned again and pressed Iruka flush against the wall, using his hips to hold the younger man's.

"G-Genma," Iruka stumbled over his words, "M-more l-later..." Iruka couldn't get ahold of his words, so he gently pushed Genma off of him, stopping the assault on his own neck. Iruka faught to get his breathing under control and when it was he tried again. "You and I, you know what Tsunade-sama said at the last Mission Room meeting. Not at work."

Genma moaned in despair as his hands were peeled off of Iruka's hips. "Not even-" Genma began to ask, but Iruka's disapproving look was enough to stop him. "Alright, then how about after work?" Genma proposed.

Iruka nodded quickly, "After work, and you can cook me breakfast afterwards." Iruka gave a shy smile and a blush dusted his cheeks as he pulled away from the smirking jounin. The chunnin-sensei gave Genma one last kiss, involving much less tongue than all the ones before it, and then he turned on his heel and walked into the Mission Room, giving his hips just enough sway to draw out a last moan from the man watching him. Then, he shut the door behind him, tied up his throughly mussed hair, and got to work.


	2. fried rice and a bath

_A/N: I have another chapter or two to post after some fine tuning, but after that idk what to do, so suggestions in reviews would be nice if y'all want more._

It was just getting dark out again when Iruka and Genma escaped the Mission Room and the total chaos that was going on inside. Despite earlier made promises, Iruka felt that all of his energy had been drained, and all he wanted from Genma was another back-rub and some fried rice. And then he wanted to be asleep.

Genma seemed to be feeling the same way and as Iruka's feet began to drag, he didn't seem to mind, instead slowing down his own pace to match the sleepy sensei's. Iruka dropped his head onto Genma's shoulder as the walked, draping his arms over the jounin's shoulder.

"About that deal we made earlier-" Iruka began, but Genma cut him off.

"That's okay Iruka," Genma said, chuckling as he felt the concern woosh out of Iruka as he gave a big sigh and sucked the relief in. "Me too," He added, "I just want some fried rice and a bath, and then a long, long nap. Since Tsunade-sama gave us the day off tomorrow too..."

It was Iruka's turn to chuckle, "That's almost exactly what I was thinking, but yeah a bath sounds good. I'll wash your back if you wash mine," he offered drowsily, too tired to blush as Genma's chuckle returned.

Suddenly, Iruka noticed where they were. The door in front of the two shinobi was a familiar maroon, Iruka's apartment. Sighing, Iruka fumbled around for his key and tried unsuccessfully to jab the key into the lock.

Genma burst into tired laughter as his younger lover missed the key hole several times. "Nande, 'Ruka-chan?" Genma said, still laughing as Iruka gave him an annoyed, pouty look.

"Fine, you try." Iruka held out the abused key to the laughing man beside him. Genma snatched the key from Iruka's palm, sloppily and dropped the key next to the door. Iruka's laugh rang out in the hall as Genma grabbed up the key, with a complaint of them both being unfit shinobi, and put it in the lock, effectively letting the two men into Iruka's cozy apartment.

As Genma walked to the kitchen, Iruka went to start the bath, opting for all hot water, to soothe his sore muscles. Iruka took off all his clothes, pulled out the sparkly hair tie, and drifted off to sleep, one arm draped over the bathtub, the rest of him sitting on his legs, next to the tub.

Genma walked into the bathroom with two large bowls of fried rice, a little soy sauce on Iruka's, and two sets of chopsticks, spoons too in case Iruka or he couldn't handle chopsticks because of their exhaustion as was often the case. Genma took note of the sleeping Iruka and took a moment to appreciate his sleeping form. Then, he spotted the water level in the tub. It was more than half full and Genma knew it would overflow if they both got in. He chuckled a bit and nudged Iruka with his big toe.

"Iruka," Genma said, "You'll overflow the tub at this rate." He grinned sleepily as Iruka's head shot up, panic in his eyes as he lunged for the faucet.

Then, as the water shut off, Iruka turned back around to glare at Genma. "Nande? Genma why didn't you warn me sooner, instead of letting me sleep here and get a neck ache?" Genma chuckled and held up the bowls of rice.

"I made you rice, now let's shower and eat in the tub, ne?" Genma smiled and set the rice down next to the tub, before he stripped clean of his clothes. He made his way to the far wall and started the shower, "If you join me, I'll rub out that neck ache."

Iruka swallowed his pride and let Genma laugh at him as he hurried to Genma's side and turned around, moving his hair to the side so the jounin could massage his neck.

Ten minutes later, the two men found themselves eating fried rice in the steaming bath. Iruka sat between Genma's legs, pleased as he leaned against his friend and lover's muscled chest. "I never want to move," Iruka mumbled to himself with a sigh, as he lay his head back.

"Nande, 'Ruka?" Genma asked groggily from just behind Iruka's ear. "Never?"

Iruka nodded back, "Yeah," he said softly as his blinking slowed. "I could just stay here for-"

A loud banging, cut Iruka off. And in just a second the two shinobi were sitting up straight and awake. Genma held up a hand in Iruka's vision and signed quickly, _I will go check it out._ Iruka nodded and watched as the jounin slipped silently from the tub, giving Iruka a chaste kiss on his slightly parted lips before he wrapped a towel around his waste and silently left the room.

A moment later there was a loud cry, sounding more like surprise than pain and Iruka too rose from the tub. He knew that voice and he could hear Genma's low voice murmuring hazily through the walls, so he went out to see what it was. He grabbed Genma's pants from the floor and pulled them on, in case it was a student and went to join his visitors.

"Genma," he called softly, "Who is it?" Iruka's voice rang out gently, but surely throughout the apartment and Iruka heard the voices die down. He shook his head as neither answered and made his way down the short hallway that led to his living room.

As he turned the corner into the larger room, Iruka cringed. What met him was a shocked Naruto and an equally startled Sasuke right behind. Iruka's former students stood in the doorway with their mouths both open, Naruto's more so, both quite obviously in shock. They were staring openly at both Genma in his towel, and Iruka with only Genma's slightly too big pants on, beads of water on his chest and his hair still dripping.

Iruka gave a big sigh and stepped further into the room, going to where the three stood. The twelve-year-olds snapped their mouths shut, and their cheeks flushed an identical shade of pink that matched Iruka's own. Iruka looked them over and waited for Naruto to catch his breath, knowing the pre-teen would have a lot to say on the subject. He didn't have long to wait.

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in a halting voice, before he fled to Iruka's side and inhaled deeply. "You and Shiranui-san? Absolutely not! Do you have any idea how perverted he is? He's almost as bad as Kakashi-sensei! And that's saying something! No, you shouldn't. It just isn't right, him taking advantage of you!-" Naruto barely took a breath and Iruka gently put a hand over only his mouth so he'd have to breathe.

And so he could have a turn to talk. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, you needed something?" Iruka looked up at the dark haired boy who was now leaning against the doorway, as if trying to recover subtly.

"Hn," Sasuke affirmed. "Naruto," he prompted his friend.

The muffled and now silent boy pulled out from under Iruka's hand to grab a scroll and deliver a message. "The Hokage said that she'll need you to work double Mission Rooms this week, so you can get a sub lined up and some lesson plans for your classes this week. Someone who has sick- uh... sicknif-"

"Significant," Sasuke cut in.

"Yeah, sicknificantly less skill than you," Naruto finished with a glare at his honey color haired superior, who gave him a wink in return.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun, you are free to go once you are through glaring at Genma-san, and maybe dinner later this week?" Iruka said, booting him out at the same time he invited him back. "Sasuke-kun you may join us too if you wish."

Both boys nodded and Naruto looked around, smiling sheepishly at being caught while glaring and blinked slowly under his teacher's gaze. Genma gave Naruto a faux sweet smile and pried him off the teacher and pushed him out into the hallway. Then, quietly enough to escape Iruka's hearing, he leaned in and sent the boys on their way with an "I'll take care of things here."

Iruka chuckled as he saw the boys shudder and hurry from the apartment before he looked at the scroll that Naruto had dropped on his carpet. But before he could sigh in displeasure, Genma had wrapped himself around the young sensei.

"Ne, Ruka-chan, let's just go to bed," Genma chuckled as Iruka's blush returned. "Oh come on, Sensei," Genma purred into the teacher's ear, using Iruka's title to get a reaction. "You've got such a dirty imagination, I'm just too tired for anything else tonight." Genma's chuckle was light and verging on a giggle when Iruka's tinkling laugh filled the room. Watching Genma try to be chaste-minded was just so wrong.

"That's not what you were thinking at all, Gen-ma-kun," Iruka drew out his name in a way he knew enticed the slightly older man. Then, Iruka undid the tie on the loose pants he wore so they hung off of his slim hips, ready to fall at any moment, at the same time as he slunk across the apartment and down the hall to the bedroom.

He heard Genma's voice catch and glanced over his shoulder when he reached the door to the bedroom. Genma stood at the other end of the hall, leaning on the wall. He was staring outright with a glazed-over look in his eyes that promised Iruka that he'd be up for a while longer. "Are you coming?" Iruka teased, biting his lip before letting his pants drop and turning around, walking through the door and to the bed, though he left the door open for Genma to follow him through.

Genma wasted no time in dropping his towel and hurrying to join his young lover in bed. It was going to be a long night before either got any of the sleep they lacked.


End file.
